KARACHI: Bulls extended their control on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday, with the benchmark index accumulating gains all day long ahead of earnings season.
Global equity markets also showed a positive trend, whereas crude oil prices dipped lower from the previous close; WTI crude price declining 1.00pc to $40.78 while Brent crude falling 0.81pc to $43.00.
“After dropping 46 points earlier in the day, the index rebounded with the same vigor as observed in the last two sessions. Overall, the index has posted an increase of 2,230 points since the bottom touched on October 6, 2020,” said a report issued by AHL Ltd. “Banking and exploration & production sectors performed well on the back of quarterly earnings as well as an increase in international crude oil prices yesterday.”
The KSE-100 Index remained in the green for almost the entire session, registering its intraday high at 40,830.22 after gaining 476.60 points. It settled higher by 444.81 points at 40,798.43.
Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index accumulated 553.00 points to close at 65,270.65, while the KSE All Share Index added 240.79 points, ending at 28,874.05.
The overall market volumes fell from 476.73 million shares in the previous session to 358.60 million shares (-25pc). Average traded value also declined by 24pc, from $96.2 million to $72.8 million. Hascol Petroleum Ltd (HASCOL -5.06pc), Unity Foods Ltd (UNITY +4.10pc) and TRG Pakistan Ltd (TRG +5.65pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 53.94 million, 34.99 million and 21.44 million shares, respectively.
Sectors that drove the benchmark index north included banking (+148.16 points), oil & gas exploration (+75.08 points) and power generation & distribution (+44.13 points). Among other companies, Habib Bank Ltd (HBL +63.52 points), Hub Power Company Ltd (HUBC +47.08 points) and Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (OGDC +30.93 points) remained the top contributors.
Adding 3.16pc to its cumulative market capitalization, the automobile assembling sector ended as the top performer, with Indus Motor Company Ltd (INDU +1.64pc), Atlas Honda Ltd (ATLH +5.26pc) and Honda Atlas Cars (Pakistan) Ltd (HCAR +3.53pc) posting decent gains.
Meawhile, Sazgar Engineering Works Ltd (SAZEW +7.5pc) announced its production and sales data for September 2020. A total of 1,271 units were produced while 1,561 units were sold.
